Northern Kyushu and areas in Honshu - December/January 2009/2010
This trip started with a culture course and homestay in Fukuoka, and then wound its way north. Instead of moving on to another town nearly every night, I decided to stay in well connected areas and do day trips. It saved me carrying my heavy backpack everywhere!
I may fill this in with notes and/or photos as my trip occurs, as this time I will have my laptop with me!
Itinerary
Fukuoka
My culture course and homestay was in Fukuoka, so I flew directly into Fukuoka airport (with a slight deviation to Singapore, on the new A380). The flight to Singapore was completely packed, I was in the top level, in the middle row at the back of the plane, and still found it roomier than normal international flights. Singapore airport is amazingly huge, in a 4 hour gap, I walked from one end to the other (and charged my laptop a little).
| flickr | nifwlseirff | Fukuoka | |
The New Years course was packed full of activities, and this being my first homestay, I was unsure how it would work. It was only towards the end of the week that I found out my family was ok with me coming home late, otherwise I would have stayed out with friends more often! I walked the 5km to the school each morning (and home again in the evening), and at some point developed bronchitis (as expected). The best way to quickly become healthy-ish again was to keep walking, and drinking hot sake certainly helped to kill the bugs!
Mochi tastes completely different in Japan, than the mochi that is available in Australia - perhaps the rice does make a difference. Daizaifu shrine on New Year's day was terribly crowded, and visiting a tranquil garden afterwards was just the thing to calm me down. I would have liked to see the view from Fukuoka tower, poke around the nearby mountains, attend a tea ceremony, wear a kimono, and perhaps see a bit more of the bay area, but the days were very packed with activities, and it was only a very short course. It's a shame the building that the school was in was closed for most of the time I was there.
I'll miss my new friends, and I really wish I had put the course at the end of my trip, and also wish I had extra time so I could attend an intensive language course!
Kitakyushu, Shimonoseki and Mojiko
Heading to Kitakyushu around 'peak' from Fukuoka was interesting. Both the subway train and express train were full of people heading home from work, but even with the big pack, I managed the trip without incident. I was surprised to find the food and shopping areas in the station (and Riverwalk) close at 8pm - I'm used to such places staying open until 9pm. The next day was a bit of a rest day, the weather was quite nasty in the morning, and I was coming down from the high of the course - the lure of being a hermit was too strong. But I managed to walk around the city in the afternoon, and did a little shopping. It was surprising that there were very few people in the three shopping complexes I visited on my search for replacement gloves.
I met my friend early in the morning, and we braved the extremely windy, bitingly cold weather together. A short trip on the train brought us to Mojiko, which has a collection of non-standard architecture. Mojiko station is the sister station to Flinders Street Station in Melbourne (Australia).
| flickr | nifwlseirff | Shimonoseki & Mojiko | |
From Mojiko (on the island of Kyushu), we walked under the sea to Shimonoseki, on the main island of Japan - Honshu. The 750m track under the strait was packed with people exercising away from the cold, and seemed very industrial. We made a quick visit to the almost deserted Okinawan style shrine, where workers were disassembling the stands that covered the grounds for the new year's shrine visit. Lunch was at the fish market, and although the market itself was closed, the sushi place was amazingly popular - it sold the best sushi I have ever eaten. Unfortunately, my dictionary's batteries failed, right when we wanted to translate the names of the various fish. The observation deck on
A five minute ferry trip brought us back to Mojiko, where a fantastic store (Ghibli and other cute anime brands) tempted me to buy some very large plushies from Totoro. If there had been a good quality, small statue of a kodama, I would have bought it. Braving the freezing wind we walked around the station area to see the very European architecture around Mojiko retro, but we soon retreated into a warm train.
There was still time to kill in the afternoon before things closed, so we headed to Kokura castle, a short walk from Kokura station (Kitakyushu). The gardens, although small and beautiful, seemed rather dormant - it was winter after all. The castle was mostly deserted, but had some gorgeous tiger paintings, and an exhibition of student calligraphy. Photos of castles from around Japan were displayed on the top floor of the castle, along with a model assembed from toothpicks! The top floor had an excellent 360 degree view of Kitakyushu, marred only by the huge police building, but the modern architecture of the Riverwalk shopping complex was easily seen.
| flickr | nifwlseirff | Kitakyushu | |
As we had packed our sightseeing into one long day, I had some time the next morning before I had to be in Kyoto, so took a trip back to Fukuoka to buy the obi I had fallen in love with. I wish I had visited a station to get my JR pass before the first day that I wanted to use it! I wasn't able to start travelling with it before the office opened at 10am. I would have liked to spend more time in Fukuoka, and drop in at the school again, but I had to arrive at the apartment in Kyoto around 5pm, and it was several hours from Hakata station (Fukuoka) on the shinkansen.
Kyoto
I used Kyoto as a base to visit many other places. It was cheaper to rent a small apartment for a week, than to book a hotel or good ryokan!
| flickr | nifwlseirff | Kyoto | |
Nara
| flickr | nifwlseirff | Nara | |
Himeji
The repairs to the Himeji castle have started.
| flickr | nifwlseirff | Himeji | |
Arashiyama
On the outskirts of Kyoto, easily accessible by train, Arashiyama has some beautiful bamboo groves, excellent gardens and odd shrines. The sound that the bamboo makes as it moves in the wind was unexpected, there was some swishing, but there was also tonking, as the bamboo stalks knocked against each other. The view across Kyoto from one of the gardens was amazing. It was very peaceful, and just what I needed after the crowds of central Kyoto. Unfortunately, all the shops in the area were closed, and the sky started to drop slush at one point, but it is still my favourite area of Kyoto, and I wished I had the time to spend more than one day here.
| flickr | nifwlseirff | Arashiyama | |
Shizuoka and Fuji san
| flickr | nifwlseirff | Fuji | |
Morioka
I missed seeing much of Morioka on my last trip thanks to the earthquake that stranded me in Sendai for an extra day.
| flickr | nifwlseirff | Morioka | |
Kakunodate
The world was covered in snow, and a lot more decided it was the perfect time to fall from the sky, creating a stunning, quiet and magical world.
| flickr | nifwlseirff | Kakunodate | |
Nikko
My favourite town - I simply had to return here and see what it was like in winter!
| flickr | nifwlseirff | Nikko | |
| flickr | nifwlseirff | Chuzenjiko and Kegon falls | |
Narita
I wanted to spend an extra day here before flying out, as the town seemed quite picturesque. I felt very rushed on my last trip.
| flickr | nifwlseirff | Narita | |
